2017 Workshop for Early Career Success

July 14-16, 2017, at Gustavus Adolphus College

Click here for 2017 meeting program

The Midstates Consortium for Math and Science is hosting a workshop for early career faculty, post-docs and graduate students in St. Peter, MN on the beautiful campus of Gustavus Adolphus College on the weekend of July 14-16, 2017. The workshop leaders, Dr. Scott Bur and Dr. Brandy Russell, have experience presenting programs on professional development, leadership, and teaching as a vocation. Dr. Bur, an organic chemist and Dr. Russell, a bioinorganic chemist, are both faculty members at Gustavus Adolphus College. Dr. Mike Seymour, the Midstates Consortium Director and emeritus analytical chemist at Hope College, will be available throughout the weekend to meet participants, talk about Consortium resources and assist with planned activities.

Link to online registration for the Early Career Success Workshop.

This registration form is open through Monday, June 26, 2017. Advanced graduate students and postdocs interested in teaching at liberal arts colleges, newly hired tenure-track or term appointment faculty, and faculty just completing their first or second years are encouraged to participate. Travel and meeting expenses are provided by the Consortium.

Workshop Description: One of the goals for the weekend is to help each participant generate a strategic plan for the next 2-3 years of their career. This plan gives each participant time to focus on their goals, strategies and actions through creating a flexible and completely individualized plan. Another goal is to provide time for conversation between early career faculty as a mechanism for networking, sharing successes and challenges and encouraging one another. The weekend will be a mixture of time alone for reflection and strategic planning, time in small groups for giving each other feedback on your evolving plans, and time for discussions and presentations with the full group about teaching, pedagogies, establishing a research group, writing proposals for external funding, finding a mentor and much more.

Please contact Dr. Mike Seymour with any questions about the workshop (seymour@hope.edu). Program Assistant Ann Schutt (schutt@hope.edu) can provide information on travel, lodging and meals.

When considering your travel plans, we ask that you plan to arrive on campus by 4:00 PM on Friday, with the opening session scheduled for 5:00 PM, and remain through Sunday morning until conclusion of the final session at noon. The Saturday program starts at 8:00 AM and runs through dinner. Sunday program is from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM. Box lunches will be available for all participants on Sunday to facilitate departure for those that need to leave quickly for the airport or are driving home. The workshop coordinators will work to provide transportation to and from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on Friday and Sunday afternoon. More details on ride share arrangements will be provided once participant travel plans have been confirmed.